Art . Design . Decor

Treat Your Windows To Colour, Texture and Patterns!

The house we recently moved into has a lot of windows, nearly every room and passage have a minimum of two windows. While this was great for ventilation and lighting, it was highly inconvenient during our initial days with the absolute lack of privacy! It was important for us to have some form of window treatment for this pressing reason. However, during my quest to find the right window treatment, I realised how much more one can add to the windows beside just a panel of cloth to block sunlight or keep away curious eyes!

So you must be thinking that you just find something pleasing to the eye and cover up your window and you serve all possible purposes of window treatment. But no! There is so much more that you can do, if you are inspired enough. The first step however is to check on the following points:

1. How does the window play a role in your lighting, does it allow in too much light or too little already? – Depending on this you can choose the fabric or material that allows more or less light or both as you want it.

2. Does your window look too narrow or your ceiling seems too low? – These visual aspects can be corrected by choosing certain types of treatment, such as a curtain rod placed closer to the ceiling provides illusion that the ceiling is taller.

3. Are your windows rectangular, square, arch type, is it a french window or a bay window? – While certain treatments compliment the window shape, certain others like the arched window needs a little more creative implementation.

4. Do you have an existing decor theme for the room and what will match the same? – Curtains can bring in the right colour, texture and pattern into the room to either suit your current decor or to set the theme and build the room around it!

Alright then, the best and easiest way to go about the selection process is to visualise, here are some great examples of the different types of window treatments, lets see what captures your imagination!

1. Curtains:

There are a few different types of curtains, mostly in terms of stitching style and pattern. But the basic definition is long cloth panels arranged on a rod or support mounted on the wall. The cloth panels can be stitched in a manner that can be directly looped on the rod or with the help of rings, hooks or pockets. They can come in options to allow more or less sunlight depending on the fabric.

The Tie-up curtain : Strings or small panels of cloth allows the curtain to be tied around the rod forming little loops, provides a casual yet decorative look. Pleating is natural with no additional stitching on the fabric panel.

The Grommet Curtain : Grommet rings stitched into the fabric panels support the curtain on the rod. Here the rod shows in bits and looks nice for decorative rods.

Rod Pocket Curtains : The fabric panels itself is stitched to form a continuous loop through which the curtain rod passes, the rod is hidden from view. Pleats can be incorporated by manual arrangement or have pleats stitched in the fabric panels.

With pleats manually arranged

With pleats stitched into the fabric panels

Curtains with Rings : The curtains are supported on the rod with the help of rings, they not just support ease of movement but also make the curtains appear longer. This is a good solution when you want to place your curtain rods higher up, close to the ceiling, adding to the visual height.

Sheer Curtains : Sheer refers to the fabric used. It is a great option when you want privacy and some decorative treatment for the windows, but still want to allow as much light as possible. Some sheer curtains such as lace provide a whimsical look, while certain others such as silk panels are sophisticated and glamorous.

Combining Materials : Some curtain panels use more than one material, mostly as the top border of the fabric panel or the bottom border, or both. This provides an interesting combination of texture and pattern.

Double Curtains : Double curtains are two or sometimes even three layers of fabric. While it serves a practical purpose of allowing the curtains to be used differently to control the amount of light, such as a sheer material in the background to allow more light in and the thicker fabric in the foreground tied back or opened up when the room needs to be darkened. But this style also provides a formal look to the area, and can be used in the formal areas of the house.

Curtain Rods : While a lot of attention is paid to the fabric and style of stitching (pleats, length, breadth) etc, there is also a lot of variety to choose from in the curtain rods. There are curtain rods, highly creative but not too functional and some that are both fun and practical.

2. Valance : This is a simple form of window treatment, that is inclined more towards decor and visual aspect rather than practical usage. Its just a simple cloth without complicated stitch or pleats that just hangs above the window framing the top portion. It is normally a static fixture and is great when paired with curtains also or used alone where privacy is not a concern and sunlight is welcome.

Box pleat valance teamed with curtains

3. Shades : Shades are typically flat panels of ‘soft’ furnishing when open and form either a roll or pleats when pulled up. There are different types of shades, some of the popular varieties are Roman Shades, Rolling Shades and Tie-Up Shades.

Roman Shades : These shades are popular, as they are easy to use and also look great both folded up or released. They form neat symmetrical pleats when they are folded up. They are great for areas such as the kitchen, but also look good in other areas of the house based on the fabric and print chosen.

In the kitchen, fun fabric prints add a casual and cheerful vibe to the room

Roman shades also look great in other areas of the home, the fabric and print can lend a hand in providing a formal and elegant look

Rolled Up Shades : These shades simply roll up and down supported by a rod at the top where they gather around.

Tie Up Shades : This provides cottage charm to the interiors. Though simple, it requires manually rolling and tying unlike the above 2 options.

4. Blinds : Blinds are typically made of hard materials that stack up either vertically or horizontally. They were used more in commercial spaces. But the days of dull looking blinds are long over, now you can get blinds in far more interesting materials, colours and patterns. My favorite is nature inspired wooden blinds or bamboo blinds.

Bamboo Blinds

Wooden Blinds

5. Combination Styles : Liked more than one of the above options, fret not, you can combine the various treatments to provide a unique yet cohesive look.

Combination of a Swag (loose cloth hung over the window frame much like a scarf) and Curtains

Combination of Shades and Curtains

Hope you found this article informative on the options available in window treatments. I’m sure there are many more creative ways to dress up your windows, do let me know your idea for unique window treatment!

(All images are taken from Google image search, credit goes to respective image websites/owners, the blog and images enlisted here are not for any commercial purpose and are purely for information only)